{"id":"01KG8AKTGPAQBY3WGZAHWMM8ZW","cid":"bafkreici5yh7abhfs2oim7czzthhdsnzzf2tgb3wlsnrdbixcpux4q6m2e","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":1857,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.838Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":1794,"text":"CHAPTER IX.\r\nTHE SAILORS BECOMING A LITTLE SOCIAL, REDBURN CONVERSES WITH THEM\r\n\r\n\r\nThe latter part of this first long watch that we stood was very\r\npleasant, so far as the weather was concerned. From being rather\r\ncloudy, it became a soft moonlight; and the stars peeped out, plain\r\nenough to count one by one; and there was a fine steady breeze; and it\r\nwas not very cold; and we were going through the water almost as smooth\r\nas a sled sliding down hill. And what was still better, the wind held\r\nso steady, that there was little running aloft, little pulling ropes,\r\nand scarcely any thing disagreeable of that kind.\r\n\r\nThe chief mate kept walking up and down the quarter-deck, with a\r\nlighted long-nine cigar in his mouth by way of a torch; and spoke but\r\nfew words to us the whole watch. He must have had a good deal of\r\nthinking to attend to, which in truth is the case with most seamen the\r\nfirst night out of port, especially when they have thrown away their\r\nmoney in foolish dissipation, and got very sick into the bargain. For\r\nwhen ashore, many of these sea-officers are as wild and reckless in\r\ntheir way, as the sailors they command.\r\n\r\nWhile I stood watching the red cigar-end promenading up and down, the\r\nmate suddenly stopped and gave an order, and the men sprang to obey it.\r\nIt was not much, only something about hoisting one of the sails a\r\nlittle higher up on the mast. The men took hold of the rope, and began\r\npulling upon it; the foremost man of all setting up a song with no\r\nwords to it, only a strange musical rise and fall of notes. In the dark\r\nnight, and far out upon the lonely sea, it sounded wild enough, and\r\nmade me feel as I had sometimes felt, when in a twilight room a cousin\r\nof mine, with black eyes, used to play some old German airs on the\r\npiano. I almost looked round for goblins, and felt just a little bit\r\nafraid. But I soon got used to this singing; for the sailors never\r\ntouched a rope without it. Sometimes, when no one happened to strike\r\nup, and the pulling, whatever it might be, did not seem to be getting\r\nforward very well, the mate would always say, _“Come, men, can’t any of\r\nyou sing? Sing now, and raise the dead.”_ And then some one of them\r\nwould begin, and if every man’s arms were as much relieved as mine by\r\nthe song, and he could pull as much better as I did, with such a\r\ncheering accompaniment, I am sure the song was well worth the breath\r\nexpended on it. It is a great thing in a sailor to know how to sing\r\nwell, for he gets a great name by it from the officers, and a good deal\r\nof popularity among his shipmates. Some sea-captains, before shipping a\r\nman, always ask him whether he can sing out at a rope.\r\n\r\nDuring the greater part of the watch, the sailors sat on the windlass\r\nand told long stories of their adventures by sea and land, and talked\r\nabout Gibraltar, and Canton, and Valparaiso, and Bombay, just as you\r\nand I would about Peck Slip and the Bowery. Every man of them almost\r\nwas a volume of Voyages and Travels round the World. And what most\r\nstruck me was that like books of voyages they often contradicted each\r\nother, and would fall into long and violent disputes about who was\r\nkeeping the Foul Anchor tavern in Portsmouth at such a time; or whether\r\nthe King of Canton lived or did not live in Persia; or whether the\r\nbar-maid of a particular house in Hamburg had black eyes or blue eyes;\r\nwith many other mooted points of that sort.\r\n\r\nAt last one of them went below and brought up a box of cigars from his\r\nchest, for some sailors always provide little delicacies of that kind,\r\nto break off the first shock of the salt water after laying idle\r\nashore; and also by way of _tapering off,_ as I mentioned a little\r\nwhile ago. But I wondered that they never carried any pies and tarts to\r\nsea with them, instead of spirits and cigars.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQ10PHN931C809JMCG8H","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKTGPZP5TAFJ3E7AQF39C","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:16.918Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.340Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}